Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A Mobster Trial, and a Flash of a Violent Past

T. PETERSBURG, Russia — Vladimir S. Barsukov has been called St. Petersburg’s “night governor.”

A leader of one of the country’s most powerful criminal syndicates, the one-armed mobster — who has a bullet lodged in his chest from a failed assassination attempt — amassed authority and influence through the bloody gang wars of the 1990s and once rivaled St. Petersburg’s elected leaders for control over Russia’s imperial capital.

Now, Mr. Barsukov is on trial in Moscow, charged with illegal corporate raiding, extortion, fraud and attempted murder, among other crimes. His arrest by itself appears to be a victory for Russian authorities over a remaining vestige of the powerful criminal clans that once held this city hostage at gunpoint.

Read full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/world/europe/14mobster.html?_r=2&ref=world